The International Conferences On Media, Religion, And Culture
[The 10th International Conference on Media, Religion and Culture was held in Seoul, Korea from Aug. 1-4, 2016.]
The Ninth International Conference on Media, Religion and Culture was held in Canterbury, UK, from Aug. 4-7, 2014. Keynote speakers included Professor Jonathan Walton (Harvard), author of Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism, and Professor Kathryn Lofton (Yale), author of Oprah: the Gospel of an Icon, with an address also given by the inaugural president of the society, Professor Stewart Hoover (Colorado).
The Eighth International Conference on Media, Religion and Culture was held at Anadolou University in Eskisehir, Turkey, from July 8-12, 2012. It was directed by Dr. Nezih Orhon and featured a post-conference historic and religious sites tour.
The Seventh International Conference on Media, Religion, and Culture was held at Ryerson University, Toronto, from Aug. 12-16, 2010. It was directed by Dr. Joyce Smith, and it brought together an international cohort of scholars and producers and featured a series of compelling plenaries.
The Sixth International Conference on Media, Religion, and Culture was held at the Methodist University of Sao Paulo from Aug. 11-14, 2008. It was directed by Dr. Magali de Naciemento Cunha and brought together scholars, producers, and activists from over twenty countries.
The Fifth International Conference on Media, Religion, and Culture was directed by Alf Linderman (who also directed the first conference in 1994) and Mia Löveheim) and was hosted by the Sigtuna Stiftelsen in Sigtuna, Sweden. The dates were July 6-9, 2006. Attending were over 100 scholars and experts on religion and religious change.
The Fourth International Conference on Media, Religion, and Culture took place Sept. 1-4, 2004 in Louisville, Kentucky. It was directed by Dr. John Ferré and co-sponsored by the University of Louisville, the International Study Commission on Media, Religion, and Culture, and the Louisville Institute.
Between the third and fourth CMRC meetings, the University of Jyväskyla, Finland held an important parallel conference titled Sacred Media (July 10-12, 2003), that fit into the goals and continuity of CMRC efforts. Directed by Dr. Johanna Sumiala-Seppänen, this meeting expanded the network of scholars of media and religion through a focus on technology and journalism.
Other international meetings have also been associated with the CMRC series. Among the most prominent was the Tehran International Conference on Religion and Media, held Nov. 8-10, 2005 and co-sponsored by Tehran University and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting University. It was co-directed by Prof. Sayyed Hosseini, Dr. Abosallam Javadi Yeganeh, and Dr. Hamid Abdollahyan.
Books and Publications
Literally hundreds of books, articles, essays, and other expressions have resulted from these conferences. In addition, several of the CMRC conferences have been represented in book form. These include, from the first conference, Rethinking Media, Religion, and Culture (edited by Stewart Hoover and Knut Lundby), Sage, 1997; from the second, Practicing Religion in the Age of the Media (edited by Stewart Hoover and Lynn Schofield Clark), Columbia University Press, 2002; and from the third conference, Mediating Religion: Studies in Media, Religion, and Culture (edited by Jolyon Mitchell and Sophia Marriage), T&T Clark, 2003.